BOOKLOG 26: AGNES AND THE HITMAN
AGNES AND THE HITMAN
by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer
This is yet another book that was purchased ages ago and never read at the time, but now, since I decided to use it for a workshop I'm presenting online for voice & style, I finally got around to reading it. And I was reminded once more that there's a reason why Crusie and Mayer are both New York Times best-selling authors, because by golly, they can spin a yarn.
And Crusie has that irresistible, easy, smooth patter of voice and dialogue and she can make me laugh. I have said on occasion that I have no sense of humor (and Jacquie Rogers thinks this is uproarious when I say so), but the thing is, when it comes to language, I have no sense of humor. When it comes to stupidity I have no sense of humor. When it comes to poor writing, I really have no sense of humor. But Crusie manages to make me yelp with amusement, with unexpected bits and even bits that I can see coming, all with impeccable grammar.
Agnes and the Hitman was written with Crusie and Mayer writing in particular POVs and then working on each other's work, so by the time they were done, voice was distinctive and yet smooth, the story not being hamstrung by opposing voices. I read Crusie and Mayer's first cowritten book, Don't Look Down, so I knew basically what to expect. (That was a book I also enjoyed, but the misspelling of a super-heroine's name in it? What the hell ever happened to editing, I ask you?!) But after reading this book, I think I'll have to make a point of reading Mayer's work alone. Although I'm not big on men's adventure books (comic books don't count), clearly he's good enough that he's going to make his readers happy, no matter what they opened that particular book to read.
Anyway, about Agnes and the Hitman. The heroine is a food columnist with anger issues (and a police record: assault with a deadly frying pan)(not just once, mind you, so she's essentially a serial frying pan assaulter) and the hero is an assassin who gets a call from his sole relative after many years to come back to town to protect a little girl. But it's not a little girl, it turns out. And she can pretty much take care of herself.
There are some books you read and you can guess what's coming in the long run, and some you can't, and some there's a combination of both. This is one of those books you find yourself swept up into the story, the details, and the characters, both major and minor, and you can't quite see the details coming together the way they do, and that's always a pleasure.
And the funniest thing? As I was reading the last of this book, enjoying myself thoroughly, the final paragraph had a familiar pacing to it. And I realized it echoed the final paragraph of another of my favorite books, a fantasy in that case-and it turns out, something else I'm using for that workshop. What are the odds? (Okay, pretty good. But it was still as amusing as Agnes and the Hitman was!)
COMING UP: Believe it or not, Cujo. Good gravy, Cujo.
by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer
This is yet another book that was purchased ages ago and never read at the time, but now, since I decided to use it for a workshop I'm presenting online for voice & style, I finally got around to reading it. And I was reminded once more that there's a reason why Crusie and Mayer are both New York Times best-selling authors, because by golly, they can spin a yarn.
And Crusie has that irresistible, easy, smooth patter of voice and dialogue and she can make me laugh. I have said on occasion that I have no sense of humor (and Jacquie Rogers thinks this is uproarious when I say so), but the thing is, when it comes to language, I have no sense of humor. When it comes to stupidity I have no sense of humor. When it comes to poor writing, I really have no sense of humor. But Crusie manages to make me yelp with amusement, with unexpected bits and even bits that I can see coming, all with impeccable grammar.
Agnes and the Hitman was written with Crusie and Mayer writing in particular POVs and then working on each other's work, so by the time they were done, voice was distinctive and yet smooth, the story not being hamstrung by opposing voices. I read Crusie and Mayer's first cowritten book, Don't Look Down, so I knew basically what to expect. (That was a book I also enjoyed, but the misspelling of a super-heroine's name in it? What the hell ever happened to editing, I ask you?!) But after reading this book, I think I'll have to make a point of reading Mayer's work alone. Although I'm not big on men's adventure books (comic books don't count), clearly he's good enough that he's going to make his readers happy, no matter what they opened that particular book to read.
Anyway, about Agnes and the Hitman. The heroine is a food columnist with anger issues (and a police record: assault with a deadly frying pan)(not just once, mind you, so she's essentially a serial frying pan assaulter) and the hero is an assassin who gets a call from his sole relative after many years to come back to town to protect a little girl. But it's not a little girl, it turns out. And she can pretty much take care of herself.
There are some books you read and you can guess what's coming in the long run, and some you can't, and some there's a combination of both. This is one of those books you find yourself swept up into the story, the details, and the characters, both major and minor, and you can't quite see the details coming together the way they do, and that's always a pleasure.
And the funniest thing? As I was reading the last of this book, enjoying myself thoroughly, the final paragraph had a familiar pacing to it. And I realized it echoed the final paragraph of another of my favorite books, a fantasy in that case-and it turns out, something else I'm using for that workshop. What are the odds? (Okay, pretty good. But it was still as amusing as Agnes and the Hitman was!)
COMING UP: Believe it or not, Cujo. Good gravy, Cujo.